The latest storm information from the Philippine weather agency (PAGASA) at 11:00 on October 25 said that Typhoon Trami (local name Kristine) slowed down slightly as it was about to leave the Philippine Forecast Area (PAR) in the East Sea while the tropical depression near the Philippines strengthened into tropical storm Kong-rey (local name Leon).
PAGASA said that Typhoon Trami is moving west-northwest at a speed of 15 km/h, slightly decreasing compared to the previous speed of 25 km/h.
Philippine authorities said that more than 3.3 million people in the country have been affected by Typhoon Trami, with thousands still struggling with the consequences of the latest typhoon active in the South China Sea.
Typhoon Trami is the 11th typhoon in the Philippines in the 2024 typhoon season and the first in November. Trami is also the sixth typhoon in the South China Sea.
As Typhoon Trami was gathering in the South China Sea, the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) upgraded the tropical depression near Guam to a tropical storm. The new storm, internationally named Kong-rey, is forecast to enter the Philippine PAR forecast area on October 27 and will be named Leon according to the list of typhoon names for the 2024 Philippine typhoon season.
The initial JMA typhoon forecast shows that Kong-rey is in the eastern part of Batanes, Philippines and has not affected the weather in any part of the country. The storm is expected to move near southern Okinawa, Japan on October 30.
The latest storm and low pressure information from the US Navy's Joint Typhoon Warning Center (JTWC) said that Kong-rey (ie Typhoon No. 11 in Japan) is located 178 km east-southeast of the US Navy's Andersen air base in Guam. Typhoon Kong-rey has been moving west at a speed of 33 km/h for the past 6 hours.
Typhoon Kong-rey formed from a large low pressure trough in the Mariana Islands. With warm sea surface and favorable winds created by the upper-level low pressure in the west, Typhoon Kong-rey is forecast to move mainly west-northwest in the next 3 days. Forecasters at JTWC said that with the current weather developments, Typhoon Kong-rey will have winds of 100 km/h or more in the next 5 days and strengthen into a typhoon.
Taiwan's CWA said the tropical depression near Guam strengthened into tropical storm Kong-rey on the morning of October 25. At 8:00 a.m., the storm was about 2,770 km east-southeast of Eluanbi Cape, the southernmost tip of Taiwan (China). However, in its latest hurricane forecast, the CWA remains uncertain about the storm's impact on the island's weather.
Kong-rey is the name given to the storm by Cambodia, to refer to a mountain and also the name of a girl in Khmer legend. The storm has a gusts of up to 1,300 km/h, becoming the second largest tropical storm in the western Pacific basin this year.
